The present invention relates to rolling pastry products, especially for rolling sheets of partially folded pastry material advancing on a conveyor belt.
In the preparation of rolled pastry products on a conveyor belt, such as pancakes or Swiss rolls, three distinct operations are required:
(1) distributing or dividing the pastry into discrete pieces of a predetermined size e.g., by means of a cutting mechanism or a dispenser;
(2) lifting up at least one edge to form a partially folded product; and
(3) rolling the folded product.
Each of these three operations is carried out in a separate step and the rolling may be done either by hand or by using complex devices which are not easy to maintain or clean.
Hand rolling is labour intensive and it is desirable not only to reduce labour costs but also to ensure that the products are untouched by hand. In addition, it would be desirable to devise an automatic rolling system which is simpler than those heretofore known.
We have now developed such a system using at least four parallel rollers which are positioned to define a cavity the dimensions of which are equivalent to the desired diameter of the final product.